MODI INDUSTRIES LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) -

(2.) THIS petition under section 33 of the Arbitration Act filed on 31st October, 1957, in the Subordinate Court has been transferred to this Court under the Delhi High Court Act and it raises interesting question of law.

(3.) ISSUE No. 2 In view of my finding on issue No. 1, issue No. 2 has to be answered in the affirmative. The proceedings before the Arbitrator are not in the nature of a suit and neither the provisions of Order 29 nor Order 30 of the Civil Procedure Code govern the same and theprocedural technicalities of law do not have any place in arbitration proceedings. The Arbitrator is a forum of the choice of the parties and is really intended to replace the civil Court and the procedural technicalities applicable to them. The Arbitrator has to follow the principles of natural justice and decide the dispute before him in a bona fide manner without committing misconduct of himself or the proceedings and his decision on the face of the record must not be contrary to law. Subject to the said limitations, he is .a judge both offacts and law and is entitled to mould his own procedure. The initiation of arbitration proceedigs against the trade name Modi Oil Mills is only a misdescription of the incorporate-company Modi Food Products Ltd. which owns the said Oil Mill and which has entered into the contract in the same name. The reference to arbitration is, therefore, valid in law and the misdescription in the name of the party can if necessary be corrected by amendment of the cause title and there is no problem of the bar of limitation involved in the matter. Had the proceedings been instituted in a civil Court, it would have been open to the Court to allow the amendment of the plaint in order to correct the misdescription and bring the real matter in controversy between the parties under Order 1, Rule 10, as well as Order 6, Rule 17 of the Civil Procedure Code. The proceedings before the Arbitrator are not circumscribed by any such provisions of law and there is no doubt that the correction can as well be effected in arbitration proceedings. Even without the amendment, the reference is valid as the name Modi Oil Mills really means and represents the petitioners who were the contracting parties. The answer to issue No. 2 is in the affirmative.